Graham Alexander sacked by Portsmouth's EFL Trophy final opponents Salford City

That’s after The Ammies today sacked manager Graham Alexander and put Paul Scholes in interim charge.

Former Fleetwood and Scunthorpe boss Alexander led the club to promotion to League Two in his first season in charge (2018-19).

Last term saw the Manchester-based side secure a place in the EFL Trophy against the Blues.

But with promotion the main aim, just seven wins from their final 20 games before the season was curtailed meant Salford finished outside the play-off places.

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Alexander enjoyed an unbeaten start to the current campaign, with the club currently sitting fifth in the standings.

Yet they could only draw with Tranmere on Saturday – despite the visitors having numerous players missing for coronavirus-related reasons.

It’s also believed Salford’s style of football under Alexander did not meet expectations.

Scholes, who owns the club alongside former Manchester United team-mates David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville, is very unlikely to be in charge when a re-arranged EFL Trophy final date is set.

The former Oldham boss is not thought to be a contender to fill the vacancy on a full-time basis.

Last season’s final was postponed because of coronavirus.

Football League chiefs delayed a decision on when the postponed game will take place last month due to a rise in Covid-19 cases and the government’s decision to continue playing elite-level games behind closed doors.

The situation will be re-examined at the end of this year.

The final was meant to be played at Wembley in April, with Pompey selling more than 51,000 tickets.

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